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Topic: Alaska with the Stocks 2009 (Read 109828 times)

Thanks for your suggestions and caring. Our inverter is a Magnum 3100 watt inverter. Dean's conversation with the Magnum tech rep resulted in a diagnosis of a faulty control board. The main effect is no battery charger. Other functions appear relatively normal. We did not want to continue the trip without the charge function. Magnum is replacing the board under warranty. We should have it Monday afternoon or Tuesday morning. You'll hear a sigh of relief loud enough to be heard around the world. Again, thanks.

Thanks for the good news on the repair. I suspect the "control board" has a relay on it that acts like a transfer switch and provides the AC to the charger and turns off the inverter in the box. That is the relay I was thinking of as all inverter chargers must have them. If you can, get the information off the relay to satisfy my curiosity.

Reading replies was the highlight of our day. Dean washed the car again and put the plastic film (Transit Shield like product) on it, and I continued cleaning cupboards. It's amazing how many interesting and useful items I discovered today. Today Dean washed the RV, and we went on a drive to charge the batteries and dry the coach. We hoped to see the salt flats and Takhini Valley elk. We saw some small patches of white, and no elk. Meanwhile, as we rounded a curve in the road, the refrigerator slid out, so we have something to add to our To Do list.

As a matter of fact, I have seen three good movies, "Up," the new "Night at the Museum", and "Angels and Demons". I liked "Up" the best. We appreciate the movies more when there's a lack of things to do. They were supposed to change the movies on Friday, but they decided to not do it this week. I'm really looking forward to Anchorage or nature's movie, active wildlife.

Good news—bad news day. Bad news first—the RV part didn’t still come. Dean opened the store at Puralator delivery today. He discovered that this is just a shopfront where they bring undeliverable packages. So, he re-contacted UPS. All they will tell him is that it is “in transit”, and will be delivered on THURSDAY! They aren’t quite sure about how the packages get on the trucks for delivery—possibly that happens behind-the-scenes at the airport. They don’t have any way of discovering the tracking number of our package, but they think it must have one. Second bad news, the new plastic film is not sticking well on the car, and it is quickly blowing loose. It would do better on a flat surface, and our Jeep is nothing but curves. It does not stick to plastic parts at all. Good news. We went to Yukon College and visited the art museum there. I liked it; Dean didn’t. It was small, and it was all devoted to the works of Ted Harrison who did a series of paintings about “The Cremation of Sam McGee” and “The Shooting of Dan McGrew”, two humorous poems by Robert Service, who was the guru of Yukon poetry. It wasn’t supposed to be open on Monday, but the door was open, so we walked right on in. We saw a Puralator truck drive by and got excited. They really exist. After the gallery, we stopped at A & W for lunch. There are more A & W’s north of Vancouver than there are MacDonald’s. While talking with locals, we discovered that the minimum wage is around $9 per hour, but they aren’t sure exactly because everyone pays more than that. They have not been affected by the “recession”, and jobs are plentiful. Average price for a nice 3-bedroom, 2-bathroom home is $300,000. Next good news is we discovered a real supermarket, almost the size of one in the U. S. with lots of nice-looking produce. The only diet drink we’ve seen since Vancouver is Diet Coke, but they had 7 other varieties. We weren’t able to find any sugar-free pies or cookies, but Extra Foods is the place to shop in Whitehorse. Wal-Mart’s prices are better, but they have very limited goods and lots of empty places on the shelves. People all bring in their own grocery bags (available for only $1), and they charge 5 cents for each plastic bag you use. You rent your grocery cart from a machine for 1 looney, and when you return it to the machine, your looney is dispensed back to you. People bring in plastic baskets that they have purchased.

“The Cremation of Sam McGee” and “The Shooting of Dan McGrew”, two humorous poems by Robert Service, who was the guru of Yukon poetry.

Jerry will be jealous! These are two of his favorite rhymes and Robert Service is his favorite rhymer, with Australia's Banjo Patterson a close second. What did you think of the artwork? I've not heard of that artist before.

We're also waiting for our new air conditioner. They've been told it has been shipped but no tracking number has been produced so you're not alone!

If you go to Dawson City, Yukon be sure to go to the Robert Service home for some readings and see his cabin. Also, take the tour of the town very interesting.

Thanks. We had planned to do these two, but I'd rather have something twice than pass something by. Also, it's good to hear they are "must sees" because we are so far behind on our itinerary that we may skip over some "B" rated activities so we're sure to have enough time in Alaska.

Jerry will be jealous! These are two of his favorite rhymes and Robert Service is his favorite rhymer, with Australia's Banjo Patterson a close second. What did you think of the artwork? I've not heard of that artist before.

We're also waiting for our new air conditioner. They've been told it has been shipped but no tracking number has been produced so you're not alone!

ArdraF

Ardra, one of the best parts of the gallery is the booklet we got that has the two famous poems correlated with artwork, verse by verse. I'll be sure to leave it in the coach, so ask Dean to see it when you're in Quartzite in January. I really liked the artwork, but he doesn't show faces very often. Characters either are walking away so you see their backs or have their parkas drawn up tightly around their faces. You see the facial form, but not the eyes, nose, etc., and that's true on animals, also. I'm not sure what school of art that is in. Dean didn't like it at all. I did. He uses a lot of clean lines, pretty colors, a lot of pastels, and he has a wavy background often.

Where are you? OUR PART CAME TODAY! So, any prayers that are still in the pipeline are transfered over to you. I'm interested in how your package was shipped.

We were awakened by a lady with a note this morning, and our hearts sank. But it was a good note saying that our part had arrived and was up in the office. Magnum actually had him remove a part from a circuit board-which made him very nervous, but when he turned it on, it worked. We feel so free and excited, kind of like a prisoner being released from jail must feel.

Dean didn't want to take the camera when we were going to the movies on 3 different occasions, so on our last night here (hopefully), we went on a bald eagle hunt. She's never near her nest during the day, but she hangs out there between 9 and 11 each night. As we approached the rest area, I spotted her on a bar above her nest. I don't think she has any eaglets yet because she's never in the nest. We parked halfway down the lot and quietly crept toward the nest, but she took off immediately and landed on a nearby dirt hillside, where she remained. She camouflages there beautifully, even though her head is so white. I'd never seen a bald eagle on dirt or a low bush before. Meanwhile, a second bald eagle that I had seen flying over the Yukon River as we were parking came up and perched on the light pole where we've always seen them before. He wanted his picture taken too, and he preened his feathers for several minutes. What a wonderful grand finale!

Weather: Very pleasant; low 70'sNew mosquito bites: Linda 2 (I'm upping my garlic pills to 3-a-day.) Dean has too many to count after being outside all day wearing shorts and not wearing repellant.

Where are you? OUR PART CAME TODAY! So, any prayers that are still in the pipeline are transfered over to you. I'm interested in how your package was shipped.

Linda,

I'm glad your part arrived and, best of all, that it worked! We're still at Lazy Days awaiting a new A/C. The promised tracking number to prove it is enroute has never materialized, much to everyone's dismay here. None of us believes it was actually shipped so everyone is thinking up any alternative they can to find one somewhere... At least we're in a nice place surrounded by big trees AND pointing toward the satellite! If this is the only problem we ever have we'll be very fortunate indeed. Nevertheless, we'll certainly accept any good thoughts that come our way.

Our day started later than we would have liked because we got to bed late and when we were ready to pull out, we couldn't find Sherlock anywhere. We always locate him so he doesn't get squished when we pull in the slides. He had crawled into a cupboard, and I had shut the door! As we departed Whitehorse, we stopped by the world's largest weather vane. See the attached picture of it. We tried to make it look like it was landing on the coach, and we went by it several times. Each time it had changed position, but we didn't want to go off-roading to line it up with the coach. We left at 9:00, later than prime time wildlife viewing, but in plenty of time to stop at Braeburn Lodge to pick up the world's largest cinnamon roll. "The Milepost" says it's big enough to feed 4, and they aren't kidding. The road was fair all day, with some frost heaves, and short dirt/gravel sections where they were constructing, but overall, it was decent. Dean did have to watch for potholes. The roadsides are ablaze with wildflowers, bright purples, baby blues, several different yellow flowers, pretty pinks, and abundant white dandelion puff flowers. We ate lunch outside the Tage Cho Hudan Interpretive Center in Carmacks, which is one of my favorite highlights of the whole trip so far. It is a small First Nation people's Museum of the Small Salmon/Carmacks tribe. When you first walk in, you are asked if you want to just cruise through or have a free guide. Be sure to say you want a guide. Dawnette was our guide, and we were the only people there. She said she had been as bored as you'd be watching paint dry, and she made the museum come to life. She is a 29-year-old tribal member who is studying to be a Conservation Officer. We learned that she still snares gopher with her children today, and it tastes like dark meat on chicken. We learned that there are two branches of her tribe, the Crow and the Wolf. When she first met the man who later became her husband, he asked her what branch she was from before he even asked her name. We saw a quick 10-minute film on how they lived in the past. They learn English, French, and their tribal language in school from K-12, and she could probably communicate well with the Navajo, as they have the same basic language. Archeologists have been able to prove the lineage, as some branches of the Athabascans moved further and further south over thousands of years. This is a MUST SEE if you get a good guide. Dawnette and her mother both make jewelry. Her mother makes pictures from tufts of moose hair, and Dawnette made this pretty little picture (see attachment) from fish scales that she dyed. We spent over 2 hours in the museum, listening to stories and learning. In the winter it gets to be -60° C (lower than -70° F)! We drove for another 4 hours before we decided to settle in for the night at the Tintina Rest Stop, about 30 minutes south of Dawson City. It was a two-ended, perfect place to sleep, except it was really sloped. We tried putting down the jacks and leveling 3 times before we decided to drive on. We wanted to stay at Guggieville RV Park because they offered the same amenities for a cheaper price, but we drove right by it. We ended up in downtown Dawson, where people re-directed us. When we got to Guggieville, we discovered it hasn't open yet. They had a sign which referred us to Gold Rush (right next door). Interestingly, Barb showed she paid $8 more a couple of years ago. We met some "Trailer Life" inspectors, and they told us that many of the parks have lowered their prices this year. It's 10:15 now, so I really should start dinner.

Visitor Centers rock! They have been so helpful, and we would recommend that anyone doing this trip always make them your first stop. The Dawson City VC offers a "combo" ticket (buy 2, get the third for almost free) for any 3 Canada Park Attractions (there are 8 to choose from). They do not offer any other discounts or ticket books. The VC also told us that the ferry does not take reservations. But...when you come into town, stop at the VC and find out if there are any caravans leaving on the day you are leaving, so you can time your departure accordingly. Caravans do make reservations ahead of time and do have a priority, as do fuel trucks. We went to the Palace Theatre to purchase the discounted tickets, then on to the cabin of Robert Service, the bard of the Yukon. He only lived here 2 years, but he became a best-selling author and his two most famous poems made over $1 million. He had a wry sense of humor and wrote poetry for people who hate poems. The narrator makes or breaks this venue, and ours was dynamic! I would rate this a "MUST SEE!" We had to "pass" on the Jack London Interpretive Center because it had many steps and lots of standing, which I can't do. I had read many of London's books in preparation for this, and I was disappointed. Dean hadn't read any, so even though he was physically capable, he wasn't interesting in going. We went to the Dawson City Museum which screened two oldtime black-and-white films that had lots of interesting historical information, and they are shown back-to-back. They also had 2 galleries of interesting dioramas and displays. We scurried back to the VC, which is open until 8 PM and saw 3 short films on Dawson City. All these films at various venues have different subject matter, and we're surprised that they keep giving us lots of interesting new information. The VC told us that there are many fewer tourists so far this year. They also told us that the city sprays for mosquitoes in town, and we did notice that there were very few. The VC answered many questions and have a wealth of resources, including menus for all the restaurants. We had dinner at Sourdough Joe's-good service, crisp, fresh salad, fresh vegetables, and good halibut, reasonably priced. Then, off we went to Diamond Tooth Gertie's for a musical revue. We enjoyed the dancing girls, and we stayed for the midnight show because we were told it was different. Not worth it! Shorter show, featuring primarily the male singer, who was the weak link in the show. As we drove home at 12:45 we passed two bicyclists. They had no lights or reflectors, but they didn't need them, as it's still very light outside.

Visitor Centers rock! They have been so helpful, and we would recommend that anyone doing this trip always make them your first stop. The Dawson City VC offers a "combo" ticket (buy 2, get the third for almost free) for any 3 Canada Park Attractions (there are 8 to choose from). They do not offer any other discounts or ticket books. The VC also told us that the ferry does not take reservations. But...when you come into town, stop at the VC and find out if there are any caravans leaving on the day you are leaving, so you can time your departure accordingly. Caravans do make reservations ahead of time and do have a priority, as do fuel trucks. We went to the Palace Theatre to purchase the discounted tickets, then on to the cabin of Robert Service, the bard of the Yukon. He only lived here 2 years, but he became a best-selling author and his two most famous poems made over $1 million. He had a wry sense of humor and wrote poetry for people who hate poems. The narrator makes or breaks this venue, and ours was dynamic! I would rate this a "MUST SEE!" We had to "pass" on the Jack London Interpretive Center because it had many steps and lots of standing, which I can't do. I had read many of London's books in preparation for this, and I was disappointed. Dean hadn't read any, so even though he was physically capable, he wasn't interesting in going. We went to the Dawson City Museum which screened two oldtime black-and-white films that had lots of interesting historical information, and they are shown back-to-back. They also had 2 galleries of interesting dioramas and displays. We scurried back to the VC, which is open until 8 PM and saw 3 short films on Dawson City. All these films at various venues have different subject matter, and we're surprised that they keep giving us lots of interesting new information. The VC told us that there are many fewer tourists so far this year. They also told us that the city sprays for mosquitoes in town, and we did notice that there were very few. The VC answered many questions and have a wealth of resources, including menus for all the restaurants. We had dinner at Sourdough Joe's-good service, crisp, fresh salad, fresh vegetables, and good halibut, reasonably priced. Then, off we went to Diamond Tooth Gertie's for a musical revue. We enjoyed the dancing girls, and we stayed for the midnight show because we were told it was different. Not worth it! Shorter show, featuring primarily the male singer, who was the weak link in the show. As we drove home at 12:45 we passed two bicyclists. They had no lights or reflectors, but they didn't need them, as it's still very light outside.

Our sunny day in Dawson Creek started with a visit to the Danoja Zho Cultural Center. Be sure to go at a time when there is a guided tour. We have learned that being there when they open often gets you individualized tours and true life experiences instead of a canned presentation. We were fortunate to have two outstanding guides. I think the First Nation people's museums are second only to the wildlife. Be sure to gas up in Dawson City, as you won't see any gas stations for over 100 miles. We forgot to gas up, but we had a big enough tank to make it to Tok. We lined up for the free Dawson City ferry, which you must take to get across the Yukon River. Otherwise you would have to go all the way back to Whitehorse and around, and you don't want to do that. We were first in line for their second trip, and we only had about a 20-minute wait. We then took the Top-of-the-World Highway, which I would never ever take again. It is all dirt and gravel, rutted, pot-holed, and NARROW, WITH SOFT SHOULDERS! As the passenger, you are looking at a steep 1,000 foot drop-off, not knowing if the side of the road will hold. Truly scary! Dean, the daring one of our duo, says the road has a "washboard surface" and is a "disaster". The coach has a fine layer of dirt on everything-after we got it so clean during our time-delay in Whitehorse. After 45 miles, we reached the border, which we whizzed through. The country changes, but the road doesn't. We lunched at a pretty turnout where the lupine was a bloomin' on one side of the road and there was a lot of snow on the other side. The fine dirt from a Class B way in front of us was coming into the coach, and it really was bothering my nose and lungs. The dirt cloud just seemed to hang in the air. We were blessed with rain which settled down the dirt and cleaned off the windshield. However, it started dripping inside, too. The RV really gets shaken up on that road, and something isn't fitting the way it used to. If you do decide to take this road, make sure everything is super secure in your coach. I think it's very hard on the RV. We only did 20-25 mph, and it was really bouncing around. The manager of the gas station at the next town, Chicken, told us that he hadn't driven it this year, but he had heard it was much worse than usual. There isn't any construction or any sign that it will be improving soon. If you do go on TOTW, be sure to stop at the turnout with the information about the 40-Mile Herd of caribou. At one time, there were over 560,000 in the herd, and it dropped down to 5,000. People from Yukon, Canada, and Alaska have worked together to limit predators, and caribou are rebounding. After what seemed forever, we reached Chicken, AK. The people there wanted to name it after the ptarmigan, but they couldn't spell it. Many of the locals called the ptarmigans "chickens", and they could spell that. We had a coupon for a free chicken, but it was raining, and the gas was $4.35 per gallon. We decided to buy gas in Tok, about 77 miles away. About 2 miles outside of Chicken, the road is paved, except in many construction spots. But, even there, whatever they are using on the road makes it pretty smooth. However, there are no highway signs mentioning Tok or much of anything else. We felt very isolated-no cell phone service, no landmarks, just signs saying you were leaving Forested Area #12 or whatever. We finally found a little sign naming a little lake where somebody must fish occasionally, and it was referenced in our "Milepost". When you intersect Highway 2, you need to turn right, there isn't any sign until you've already made the turn and gone a bit. When we came into Tok, we immediately went to gas up at the place recommended by RV Forum friends. Dean went to the fuel pump, and there was a sign saying you had to re-insert your credit card for each $100 in gas you bought. There was a button to "pay inside", so Dean pushed it, rather than repeatedly put his credit card in. Then the message said, "Please wait." So he waited, and waited, and waited. He is so much more patient than I am, but eventually he tired of waiting, so he went to the mini-mart to find out what was happening. There was a sign on the door saying they would open June 25. So, Dean came back to the pump, and ended up inserting his card 4 times. This place does have the lowest fuel cost in Tok, 52 cents a gallon cheaper than in Chicken. It is the first gas station on the east end of town, across the highway from Fast Eddie's restaurant and has a sign that says LAUNDRY GAS. We had a great meal at Fast Eddie's-reasonably priced, well-stocked fresh and crispy salad bar, good service, well-prepared food.

Wildlife: 1 jackrabbitWeather: Started out sunny, then rain followed by thick overcast, chilly, 50's and 60'sOvernighted at: Gateway Salmon Bake & RV Park, $23.50, 30 amps and water-a few spaces with free WiFi and sewer, but you can go into Fast Eddie's Restaurant, which is currently running the park, and they will set you up with WiFi for as long as you want. The Salmon Bake is out of business.

Thank you Dean and Linda. this is so good to be able to sit here in cold South Australia and enjoy your journey in the cold at the top of the world

Loving the pictures and the tales, definitely a place I would like to visit if I ever get the opportunity.

Logged

Cheers, Ian - from Adelaide, South Australia. GMT+0930 +1 for Daylight Robbery - Oct to AprA journey is best measured in friends rather than miles. Tim CahillA journey is like marriage. The certain way to be wrong is to think you control it. John Steinbeck

Your trip on the TOTW highway sounds a bit like ours, except it was raining most of the time and very muddy. It took 2 cycles of the pressure washer in Tok to get the coach clean and another one for the Honda. The gas station on the west end of town offered a free pressure wash with a fillup so that's where we cleaned the car.

Sorry to hear the Salmon Bake is closed, but it's good that the campground is still running. We stayed there both coming and going and the front row of sites was satellite friendly too. Sites 1 and 2 are 50A by the way. And they had excellent WiFi. That was one of our favorite campgrounds in AK.

I'm reliving our trip from 2006 as you see it all for the first time. Thank you.

Here's what our coach looked like at Chicken. Russ's Jeep is behind us.

Unlike so many, we had an excellent trip over Top of the World Highway. Road conditions vary a lot with the season and weather and we hit it just right. Folks in Tok (we were headed east) advised us that our timing was good because there had been some rain to pack down the road, followed by a couple sunny days to dry it out. We gave it a shot and had a great trip. Averaged about 35 mph on a bright sunny day in late August, with only moderate dust. Few ruts or potholes either. No wait at the ferry either.

I've really enjoyed the last few posts. Like Ned, I'm reliving my 2006 trip.Here's what my Honda looked like when it arrived in Chicken on June, 28 2006. We had just come in from The east and it had rained all day.

I guess we were lucky on our trip on the top on the World highway (in 1998). I remember the road to be smooth gravel. Now on the Alaska side the road was much worse. Then just past Chicken we blew a hydraulic hose losing steering and the radiator fan. I had to drive the towed to Tok to arrange a tow. Fred and daisy stayed with Sheila until I returned. At that time the road from Chicken to the junction was unpaved. Just a small adventure on a great trip that we hope to repeat summer after next.

Last night we went to bed with rain on the roof and we awakened to the pitter patter on our roof. We wanted to clean the coach of its dirt layer, but I did not want to get wet going into the restaurant to post on our log. So we did a quick wipe-down and set sail. Before we left California, we purchased two discount coupon books for Alaskan food and activities. The great Alaskan Tour Saver cost $100, and Northern Lights cost $50. There is some overlap, but each will easily pay for itself at least 8 times over. Most are for buy one, get one free. We will be going on the Stan Stevens wildlife cruise on Monday, and that alone will save us $112. At the end of the journey I will calculate my total savings for each. We did not realize that there were coupons in it for Dawson City, YT, Canada, so we missed the $6 savings at Diamond Gertie's. We wanted to get the free 1/4 pound of fudge in Tok, but they didn't have any "yet". Everyone passes through Tok at least twice on their journey, so we will try again later. We wanted to see the Tetlin Wildlife Preserve outside Tok, but it is closed on weekends. It sounds like an interesting place to visit, with spotting scopes to see animals. But we didn't want to wait around for 2 days. We really appreciated the paved, straight road. It did have some "Whoops!" frost heaves that we hit at speed because only about 80% were marked, and some short gravel breaks, but overall is was wonderful. When we left Glennallen, the scenery became much more beautiful. In the Yukon, the forests have been devastated by the spruce bark beetle and fires. The trees have to be hardy enough to withstand such cold that their limbs are very short and they appear scrawny. Now, in Alaska, the trees have became more robust We stopped in at the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park Visitor Center, which I would highly recommend. We got to feel pelts from each of the large predators, and they were surprisingly soft and silky, even the wolf. They had excellent displays and a 22-minute film, as well as talks by the rangers. They received a large infusion of money from President Bush to celebrate Alaska's 50th anniversary. I was surprised to hear this, because I belong to several environmental organizations that have bemoaned the lack of funding for national parks. Could it be because Alaska's governor and senators are all Republican? This national park is as large as Connecticut, but it only gets 1/64 of the visitors to Yellowstone. About 40 miles before Valdez, we noticed a very large snowfield, and we thought it might be a glacier. I read ahead in the "Milepost", and sure enough, it was Worthington Glacier. We were able to take our 37' motorhome w/an attached toad, in to the base of the glacier. They have long spaces designated for RVs. It was beautiful, but I wondered how much larger it was 10 years ago. At Wrangell-St. Elias NP, a ranger told us that the Copper River flowed between 2 glaciers. In 1998 those glaciers were 300 feet apart. Now they are over 5 miles apart! The vegetation became more dense, greener, with intermittent small waterfalls, and the rain/drizzle stopped. We saw a large lump ahead, and it turned out to be a porcupine sniffing something as he strolled across the road. As we rounded a curve, there was a tall, beautiful waterfall, Bridal Veil Falls, followed quickly by Horsetail Falls. We chose to stay at Bayside RV Park because it has 50 amps, and we cook and heat with electricity. We may go down to Sea Otter Campground, 20 amps, for a day or two later because it is so highly recommended. The WiFi here is great. We will try out our Motostat today and see how good our reception is.

You skipped the Demster Hwy & the trip to Inuvic...Where is your sense of adventure.<G>

Betty's eloquent description of that trip quickly convinced me that the trip to get there on the chance the plane would have enough passengers was not for me. I'm willing to gamble occasionally, but not to go through what you guys did without a 100% guarantee of the flight taking off with us on board. My adventures are going to be tame wildlife cruises to glaciers.

My sense of adventure is many miles behind me at the TOTW Highway and someday it may catch up with me. Dean loves off-roading, racing cars, and challenges, so when he says a road is a "disaster" it has real meaning. The locals say this year is especially bad. I can't imagine that it is any wider, even on a good year. Also, I got to dip my toes in the Arctic twice while I was in Scandinavia. That trip was much easier, it's the same ocean, and if one wants to be at the Arctic, I would highly recommend doing it from Europe.

I guess we were lucky on our trip on the top on the World highway (in 1998). I remember the road to be smooth gravel. Now on the Alaska side the road was much worse. Then just past Chicken we blew a hydraulic hose losing steering and the radiator fan. I had to drive the towed to Tok to arrange a tow. Fred and daisy stayed with Sheila until I returned. At that time the road from Chicken to the junction was unpaved. Just a small adventure on a great trip that we hope to repeat summer after next.

ken

Your story proves that things could always be worse. We spent most of today cleaning and repairing. It was like putting our coach inside a tornado--but it lasted many, many hours instead of just a few minutes.

Sorry to hear about the Salmon Bake, it was the greatest fish we had in Alaska. The young couple who were running the Salmon Bake and cg were the son and DIL of the owner of Fast Eddies.

I have thought of you and Sue several times. I remember her saying that she would only come to Alaska again if she could ferry one way. I see why. Alaska is the prize in the cracker jacks--so much prettier and more fun things to do. And, I've thought (with a hint of a smile) about the night all the mosquitoes invaded your coach after you had so kindly escorted me back to mine. I bought you a book about mosquitoes when we were at Wrangell-St. Elias NP. Ask Dean for it in Quartzite or at next year's Hop-Skip-Jump.